Question for Aus growers on pests/diseases

[ArronOB]

Hi. This is a question for Australian growers on the forum. I’d like to know what pests and diseases you have identified on your plants. The reason I ask is because most of my knowledge on this topic comes from American or International sources such as Orchidboard. However I’m becoming aware that this may not reflect the local experience at all. For example I’ve never seen or heard of spider mite locally.

If you reply, please don’t forget to say what you grow and where, as I expect there is a big difference north to south.

So I’ll kick it off by saying that I grow mainly cattleya and oncidium hybrids in NSW just north of Sydney.
The only pests I’ve seen are Boisduval scale (common) and another round, brown hard scale attended by ants which I can’t actually name (fairly rare). Unfortunately I’m not yet knowledgeable enough to identify the fungus, bacteria or virus we get locally.

Cheers
Arron

[Benno]

Early days for me, but mealy bugs and tiny little snails on an orchid I had outside in a garden for years without much attention paid to it. SE Qld here.